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 LI E) RAR.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS
 
 REMONSTRANCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HEAD MASTERS OF IRELAND 
 
 AGAINST THE 
 
 FINANCIAL CHANGES 
 
 MADE BY TIfE 
 
 BOAEI) OF INTEEMEDIATE EDUgATIOI^ 
 
 IN THEIR RULES FOR 1882. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 BROWJSTE AND NOLAN, NASSAU STREET. 
 
 1882.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The publication of the Rules of the Intermediate Education 
 Board for 1882, at the end of last year, surprised the public by 
 announcinsra number of financial retrenchments which had been 
 forced upon the Board by the insufficiency of the Funds to pro- 
 vide for the successful development of the Act of Parliament of 
 1878 in their hands. The reductions of the value and number 
 of Rewards to Students, and in the amount of Results Fees to 
 Schools, threatened to starve the scheme which was Wbrking so 
 successfully. 
 
 Thereupon the Headmasters resolved to send a Memorial to 
 His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, and to go on a Deputation 
 to the Chief Secretary in order to induce the Government 
 to prevent so great a calamity. 
 
 The memorial thus sent in and the proceedings of the Deputa- 
 tion will be found in the Appendices to this Pamphlet. 
 
 The Standing Committee of Protestant and Roman Catholic 
 Headmasters have thought it well to draw up a statement, in 
 order to place the history of the case, and the causes of the pre- 
 sent crisis, before Members of Parliament and the public 
 generally. ' 
 
 February 13th, 1882.

 
 REMONSTRANCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HEAD MASTERS 01 IRELAND 
 
 AGAINST THE 
 
 PINAJS'CIAL CHANGES MADE BY THE 
 BOAKD OF INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION 
 
 IN THEIR RULES FOR 1882. 
 
 The Intermediate Education Act (Ireland), has been in 
 operation just three years. Rarely has an educational 
 experiment been attended with such success. Already, 
 under its stimulus, new schools have been established on 
 every side, whilst the older schools have spared neither 
 trouble nor expense in reorganising their system, and 
 in making their teaching more efficient. Pupils have 
 begun to acquire habits of greater industry and of more 
 systematic work, and parents have been made more 
 alive to the needs and to the value of education. 
 
 In another sense, too, the Intermediate Education 
 Act has been a remarkable success. Few questions 
 have been found more difficult by English statesmen 
 than the problem of granting State aid to education in 
 a country of mixed religions, in such a form that persons 
 of any religion, or of no religion, may share alike in 
 the benefits conferred, whilst no person or class of 
 persons feels aggrieved by exclusion. 
 
 This problem the Intermediate Education Act seems to
 
 have solved completely. The secular State, interested in 
 the intellectual development of its citizens, holds high 
 its standard of secular knowledge, applies its own tests 
 to verify the attainment of that standard, and then holds 
 out its rewards to the successful student and to the 
 deserving teacher, without question of class or of creed. 
 
 These rewards may, perhaps, be miscalled endow- 
 ment by those to whom all endowments are open to 
 grave suspicion; but under the Intermediate Education 
 Act, the endowment, if it must be called so, is not of a 
 person, nor of a class, nor of a creed: it is not the 
 unearned endowment, ending in stagnation, with which 
 we are too familiar : it is but the bestowal on all alike, 
 without prejudice or favour, of a modest reward, fairly 
 won in an honest struggle, and for work well done. 
 
 Hence, for the first time perhaps in the history of 
 Educational Schemes in this country, the Intermediate 
 Education Act has afforded a platform on which the 
 representatives of all creeds, of all classes, and of all 
 shades of politics, have been found acting with practical 
 unanimity. 
 
 A striking proof of this fact is to be found in the 
 account which we append elsewhere,* of a deputation of 
 the Heads of Intermediate Schools, which waited on 
 the Chief Secretary for Ireland, on January 24th, to 
 point out to him how seriously imperilled are the pros- 
 pects of the Intermediate Education Act by the changes 
 which the falling short of the funds (a falling short mainly 
 due to the extraordinary success of the scheme), has 
 compelled the Board of Commissioners to make in the 
 scale of rewards and payments. 
 
 It will be seen at a cursory glance, that the deputa- 
 tion represented every part of the country ; that it com- 
 prised Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Metho- 
 
 * See Appendix B, page 16.
 
 dists, Independents, Non-Sectarians ; the heads of 
 Colleges, which train their pupils for the Universities 
 and the learned professions, and the Masters of Schools 
 where the sons of the farmer, of the shopkeeper, and of 
 the artisan, are educated for their work in life. 
 
 It may be truly said that the Deputation represented 
 every class, and every form of religious belief, and they 
 were entirely unanimous. 
 
 Their object in waiting on Mr. Forster was to point 
 out that, after barely three years of a most prosperous 
 existence, the future prospects of the Intermediate Act 
 were most seriously imperilled by the changes recently 
 made by the Board in the scale of rewards and prizes 
 to be granted in future. In making these changes the 
 Board had no choice. Their funds had fallen short, the 
 very success itself of the Act had already made them 
 for the moment bankrupt. As a matter of fact it was 
 only on the 1st February, 1882, that the Board were able 
 to pay an instalment of one-half of the Results' Fees 
 earned at the Examination of June, 1881. 
 
 From 3,954 candidates in 1879 (3,218 boys 736 girls), 
 the number had increased in 1880 to 5,561 (4,114 boys, 
 1,447 girls), and in 1881 there was a still further increase 
 to nearly 7,000, the boys numbering 5,144, whilst the 
 girl candidates had increased to 1,804. Therefore it 
 appears that during the three years of operation the 
 number of boys examined increased 60 per cent., and 
 the number of girls increased 145*85 per cent. 
 
 For these numbers the financial provisions were 
 inadequate, and it seemed likely that the maximum 
 limit of candidates had not yet been reached. The 
 Board had no assurance that the Government would ask 
 from Parliament the further sums that this development 
 required, and they were therefore reluctantly compelled 
 to make wholesale reductions in their scale of Exhibi-
 
 8 
 
 tions, Prizes, and Results Fees. We give below* the 
 scale of rewards as it was drafted by the late Govern- 
 ment, in the Schedule to the Intermediate Act, and 
 sanctioned by Parliament, and as it now stands with the 
 recent changes. It may be estimated roughly, taking 
 both together, that the payments for Prizes and Fees 
 have been reduced to one-half the amounts granted 
 under the Act in the form in which it was debated and 
 passed through Parliament. 
 
 The object of the Deputation to the Chief Secretary was 
 to remonstrate against these reductions as likely to injure 
 seriously the working of the Intermediate Education 
 Act, and to ask Her Majesty's Government, through him, 
 to make such provisions as would enable the Commis- 
 sioners to continue the working of the Act on the lines 
 on which it had been so remarkably successful — lines 
 carefully drawn by the late Government, and deliberately 
 sanctioned by the practically unanimous approval of 
 Parliament. 
 
 We print in the Appendix the Petition presented to 
 the Lord Lieutenant in this sense, and the report in the 
 next day's newspapers of the Head Masters' interview 
 with Mr. Forster.f 
 
 The arguments they advanced may be briefly sum_ 
 marised here : — 
 
 1. The scheme was originally framed to include only 
 
 boys, and the financial arrangements were based on this 
 
 calculation. Lord Cairns, when questioned by Lord 
 
 Spencer, and subsequently by Lord Granville, regarding 
 
 the extension to girls of the benefits of the Bill, replied • 
 
 "That should Parliament at any time be disposed to 
 
 extend the system to female students, the financial 
 
 arrangements would require enlargement." Parliament 
 
 * See Appendix A, page 15. 
 
 t Appendix C contains expressions of opinion from the Times 
 and the leading Irish journals.
 
 9 
 
 did sanction the extension of the system to girls ; and as 
 a result the financial arrangements do require the en- 
 largement contemplated under such conditions by the 
 framers of the scheme. 
 
 2. The reductions now made are the consequence 
 simply of the extraordinary success of the Act, which 
 by the help given for the payment of teachers in the 
 Results' Fees has had the effect of largely increasing the 
 number of schools, and by the stimulus given to pupils 
 and their parents, has doubled in many instances the 
 number of pupils attending schools already established. 
 
 3. Parliament having in this case sanctioned not 
 merely the principle of payments for educational results, 
 but a certain scale of rewards, without a single protest 
 that they were immoderate or excessive, it was assumed 
 in Ireland that this scale of payments would be sub- 
 stantially adhered to, and on the faith o^ this, new 
 schools were established, and many existing schools 
 undertook considerable expenditure in additional 
 Masters, in increased salaries, and costly educational 
 appliances. The Results' Fees, as they are now reduced, 
 would not cover this additional expenditure, and the 
 consequence would be therefore, that on many of the 
 best schools in the country the Intermediate Education 
 Act would entail a considerable loss. 
 
 4. Educational worlc is so poorly rewarded in Ireland 
 that there is little inducement to men of ability to adopt 
 education as a profession; yet it is a matter of vital 
 interest to the whole country to secure able teachers for 
 its children. The Results' Fees offered by the Inter- 
 mediate Scheme helped, though insufficiently, to raise 
 the modest stipend of the teachers; under the new scale 
 these Fees will be practically of no account. 
 
 5. From an educational standpoint the system of
 
 10 
 
 Results' Fees has the great recommendation that they 
 make it the Master's interest to give his attention not 
 merely to the clever Exhibitioner or Prize Winner, but 
 to the average or dull boys, who are the majority of his 
 pupils, and who ordinarily run danger of being com- 
 paratively neglected. 
 
 6. It is a matter of Imperial interest to develop an 
 educated middle class in Ireland, and to give room 
 for exceptionally-gifted children in the humbler classes to 
 Improve their condition in life. The successful working 
 of the Intermediate Education Act is therefore of suffi- 
 cient importance to justify a claim on the Imperial 
 Exchequer, though it is hoped that the additional funds 
 needed might be procured, like the original grant, from 
 funds exclusively Irish. 
 
 7. In all other countries there are endowments for 
 Intermediate Education ; the sum now asked for to keep 
 this National Scheme in successful work, barely equals 
 the endowments of two great English Schools; yet 
 England, being so very much richer, could better dis- 
 pense with aid for Intermediate Education. 
 
 In Ireland, the Schools of the great bulk of the 
 inhabitants are unendowed ; the reasons why are not far 
 to seek, nor can Imperial legislation be held totally irre- 
 sponsible for them. The Intermediate Act was accepted 
 as remedying, though very imperfectly, this grievous 
 inequality. 
 
 8. A new University has just been launched as the 
 necessary sequel to the Intermediate Scheme. It is 
 surely an ill-chosen time to show indifference to the 
 success of that Scheme, which must vitally afiect for 
 good or ill all higher Education in the country. 
 
 We give in the Appendix Mr. Forster's reply to the 
 Deputation.
 
 11 
 
 He began by saying that the Deputation should 
 have gone rather to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 Seeing that Mr. Forster's predecessor thought it belonged 
 to his office as Chief Secretary, to draw up a Scheme 
 for improving Intermediate Education in Ireland, though 
 the Scheme involved an actual expenditure of a million, 
 with a prospective increase; it seems sing-tilar that 
 Mr. Forster should think that the maintenance and 
 development of the Scheme lies wholly without his 
 province, and belongs entirely to the domain of the 
 Chancellor oi the Exchequer, 
 
 Mr. Forster then proceeded to deal with the argument 
 from the introduction of girls under the Scheme, and 
 told the Deputation that the House of Commons was the 
 guardian of the public purse, and was not committed in 
 any way by Lord Cairns' statements in the House of 
 Lords. But Lord Cairns' statements were quoted simply 
 as showing what had been the intentions of the Govern- 
 ment in proposing the Bill, and in making the financial 
 arrangements which they had carefully and as the event 
 shows, most correctly calculated. 
 
 The Chief Secretary next touched upon the expense 
 of the Intermediate Education Office, and contrasted 
 the cost of conducting the Intermechate Examina- 
 tions with that of the Science and Art Examinations. 
 But, even were the official expenses reduced by one- 
 third, or even by one-half, the saving effected would 
 fall far short of the needs of the case. 
 
 Mr. Forster went on to say that surely there must be 
 some limit to any assistance given by the State, To this 
 there was the twofold reply, firstly, that in the yearly 
 grants made by Parliament, there is no limit fixed. When 
 Parliament has once sanctioned a certain scale of school 
 allowances, it provides all the moneys needed for them,
 
 though each year shows a notable increase in the sums 
 asked for. Thus, the vote for Education under all its 
 heads, has increased from £1,938,630 in 1872, to 
 £4,288,214 in 1881. Thus again. Parliament having 
 once sanctioned the payment of one shilling for each pupil 
 who is taught singing in English Elementary Schools, 
 provides ungrudgingly the moneys needed for that 
 payment, though the sum total required figures in 
 the estimates for 1881 at the very large amount of 
 £136,602. 
 
 Secondly, there is a limit to the number of pupils re- 
 ceiving Intermediate Education, and that limit will be 
 very speedily reached. 
 
 Mr. Forster then advised raising the standards as time 
 goes on. But the University Examinations fix the 
 limits for this raising of standards, and already these 
 limits have been reached, some boys having matricu- 
 lated successfully at the Universities, who had failed at 
 the Intermediate Examinations. 
 
 The Chief Secretary then proceeded to remind the 
 Deputation that endowments in England were the 
 gift of -individuals, and that the endowment of Inter- 
 mediate Education from State funds in Ireland would 
 raise the question of similar endowments in England 
 and Scotland. 
 
 But surely Mr. Forster could not have forgotten that 
 some of these individuals who endowed English schools 
 were royal individuals, and that the said endowment 
 was as much a public endowment as that of Trinity 
 College by Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Again, if there are no endowed schools for the bulk 
 of the people in Ireland, who are responsible? Is it 
 not the legislators, who not merely confiscated existing 
 endowments, and forbade future ones, but who made it
 
 13 
 
 penal to have a school at all ? This evil condition of 
 things, for which the State is directly responsible, the 
 State should clearly try to remedy. In England and 
 Scotland the case is plainly different. 
 
 Mr. Forster concluded by saying that the greatest 
 hope for secondary education in Ireland lay in endea- 
 vouring to make the schools self-supporting. 
 
 Free self-supporting education may perhaps be very 
 desirable in theory, but there is no such thing in ex- 
 istence anywhere. In France, in Germany, in Italy, 
 in America, Intermediate Education is largely provided 
 for by the State. But even in England, with its enormous 
 wealth, if we ask what are the foremost schools, in the 
 front rank come Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Shrews- 
 bury and Charterhouse, richly endowed schools, and 
 there is no more striking proof of the effects of fairly 
 managed endowments in fostering industry and learning 
 than that provided by the records of these schools, as at 
 Eton for instance, where we find on every prize list, that 
 though the foundation scholars number but one-ninth of 
 the whole, they win commonly three-fourths, or even 
 ioaore, of the prizes. 
 
 Take from Oxford and Cambridge their Fellowships 
 and Foundations, and Oxford and Cambridge learning 
 would speedily be a thing of the past. 
 
 Much more is this true in a poor country like Ireland, 
 where the number of people able to pay for higher 
 education is so much smaller in proportion to population, 
 
 Mr. Forster again reminded the Deputation that they 
 should have gone to Mr. Gladstone, not to him ; and 
 bowed out his visitors without, from first to last, the 
 slightest expression of sympathy with their opinions, or 
 even the stereotyped promise of careful consideration. 
 
 It remains, therefore, for the Irish people who are
 
 14 
 
 interested in this question, to bring it speedily before 
 Parliament, and, it may be reasonably hoped that the 
 representatives, Irish and English alike, who passed the 
 Intermediate Education Act with unanimity but four 
 years ago, may give their support in inducing the 
 Government to make provision for working the Act on 
 the lines which Parliament itself has already deliberately 
 sanctioned, and which have made it so exceptionally 
 succcessful. 
 
 Signed on behalf of the Two Standing Committees 
 of Head Masters, 
 
 S. ADAIR, M.A., Santry School. 
 
 Rev.ULICK CANON BOURKE, P.P., Claremorris. 
 
 Rev. PETER BYRNE, CM., St. Vincent's College, 
 Castleknock. 
 
 Rev. WM. DELANY, S. J., St. Stanislaus' College, 
 Tullamore. 
 
 Rev. JOSEPH HIOGINS, D.D., St. Finian's 
 College, Navan. 
 
 T. G. HOUSTON, M.A., Academical Institution, 
 
 Coleraine. 
 MAXWELL M'INTOSH, LL.D.,Wesley College, 
 
 Dublin. 
 
 Rev. A. M. MOORE, O.C.C, Terenure College 
 Dublin. 
 
 Rev. W. M. MORGAN, LL.D., Royal School, 
 Armagh. 
 
 Rev. J. E. REFFE, C.S. Sp., French College, 
 Blackrock. 
 
 Rev. ROBT. RICE, M.A., Warden, St. Columba's 
 College, Rathfarnham. 
 
 WM. WILKIN S, M.A., High School, Dublin. 
 Uth Fehruary, 1882.
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 COMPARATIVE SCHEDULE OF REWARDS. 
 
 
 
 Under the 
 
 Under the 
 
 
 
 Act of 1878 
 
 Changes in 1882 
 
 
 /'Junior Grade, 
 
 £20 
 
 £15 
 
 
 Tenable for 3 years 
 
 
 
 'Exhibitions 
 
 J Middle Grade, 
 
 £30 
 
 £25 
 
 
 Tenable for 2 years 
 
 
 
 
 Senior Grade, 
 
 £50 
 
 £40 
 
 
 \ Tenable for 1 year 
 
 
 
 
 
 One for every Ten 
 
 One for every Fifteen 
 
 
 
 Students who Pass 
 
 Students who pass 
 
 
 
 Under the 
 
 Under the 
 
 
 
 Rules of 1879-1880 
 
 Changes in 1882 
 
 Minor 
 
 /Junior Grade 
 
 From £2 to £4 
 
 From £1 to £3 
 
 Prizes in 
 
 j Middle Grade 
 
 From £3 to £5 
 
 From £1 to £3 
 
 Books 
 
 Senior Grade 
 
 From £4 to £6 
 
 From £1 to £3 
 
 
 
 Under the 
 
 Under the 
 
 
 
 Act of 1878 
 
 Changes in 1882 
 
 
 Junior Grade 
 
 From £3 to £5 
 
 From 16s. Sd. to £3 10 
 
 Results 
 Fees 
 
 Middle Grade 
 
 From £4 to £7 
 
 From £1 Is. to £4 
 
 
 Senior Grade 
 
 From £5 to £10 
 
 From £1 Is. to £5 
 
 The Board give notice that even this scale of Prizes and 
 Exhibitions is liable to be reduced, if, in their opinion, the 
 amount of funds at their disposal should demand it.
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 DEPUTATION TO THE CHIEF SECKETARY. 
 
 A deputation, representing the Head Masters of Intermediate 
 Schools in Ireland, waited upon the Chief Secretary on Tuesday, 
 January 24th, for the purpose of laying before him a memorial 
 relative to the new rules issued by the Intermediate Education 
 Board for 1882. The following gentlemen attended: — 
 
 John Blair Browne, Pocock College, Kilkenny ; Edmund L 
 Hogan, Intermediate School, Skibbereen ; Rev. M. O'Callaghan 
 President St. Vincent's College, Castleknock ; Rev. H. Henry, 
 President St. Malachy's College, Belfast ; Rev. J. J. Lyster, 
 President College of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo; Rev. Peter 
 Huvetys, Presirlent French College, Blackrock; Rev. Charles 
 W. Benson, LL.D., Rathmines School ; Henry R. Parker, LL.D., 
 Methodist College, Belfast ; Rev. Robert Rice, Warden of St. 
 Columba's College ; T. C Houston, The Institution, Coleraine ; 
 Rev. John R. Moloney, D.D., St. Michael's Seminary, Ballinasloe; 
 S. Adair, M.A., Santry School, co. Dublin ; Charles J. Deverell, 
 Civil Service Academy, Lower Gardiner-street; T. A. Finlay, S.J., 
 St. Stanislaus' College, Tullamore ; Robert Baile, B.A., Ranelagh 
 School, Athlone; Rev. T. H. Fitch, S.M., Catholic University 
 School, Lower Leeson-street ; Rev. Patrick Grew, S.M„ St. Mary's 
 College, Dundak; W. Stoops, B.A., Intermediate School, Newry ; 
 Rev. William Delany, St. Stanislaus' College ; Arthur L. Sparks, 
 B.A. (Lond.), Masonic Orphan Boys' School; Maxwell M'Intosh, 
 LL.D., Wesley College, Dublin; Rev. John S. M'Clintock, 
 Trustee and Manager, Prior Endowed Schools, Lifford ; D, J. 
 Sullivan, B.A., Upper Gloucester-street ; Very Rev. Prosper 
 Goepfert, President Rockwell College, Cahir ; Rev. Thomas 
 Bartley, Carmelite Seminary, Lower Dominick-street ; Rev. 
 Michael Kavanagh, St. Peter's College, Wexford ; Dr. Hassan, 
 St. Columb's College, Londonderry; Very Rev. M. A. Moore, 
 O.C.C.,Terenure College; Rev. John Egan, St. Gall's University 
 College; Rev. P. S. Aldhouse, Grammar School, Drogheda;^ 
 Anthony O'Neill, St. Patrick's Seminary, TuUow ; Br. Aloysius 
 J. Howlin, St. Patrick's Seminary, Mountrath ; Rev. James Weir, 
 LL.D,, Head Master, Raphoe Royal School; Bev. E. Maguire, 
 Diocesan College, Letterkenny; James J. Gillespie, B.A., In- 
 termediate School, Banbridge ; Rev. Gerald Molloy, D.D., 
 Catholic University ; W. H. Knapp, Kingstown School; E. R. 
 Power, B.A., 3, Harrington- street ; Rev. E. Kelly, S.J., Clon- 
 gowes Wood College ; Rev. Thomas Kelly, S. J., St. Francis 
 Xavier's College ; Rev. Thomas B. Gibson, M.A., Head Master 
 King's Hospital; Rev. H. Wilson White, M.A., LL.D., Chaplain
 
 17 
 
 and Superintendent Wilson's Hospital, Multyfarnham ; Eev. 
 John Berry, M.A., Head Master Portarlingrton School; W. 
 Wilkins, M.A., High School, Dublin ; Hamilton Bell, North Great 
 George's-street ; Eev. J, E. Reffe, French College, Blackrock. 
 Mr. Herbert Gladstone was present during the interview. 
 
 The Memorial stated — 
 
 " That the hew rules issued by the Intermediate Education 
 Board for 1882 are a great departure from the scheme originally 
 drawn by the late Government and sanctioned by Parliament. 
 The vast reduction in the scale of pecuniary rewards, both 
 for students and schools, has gone far to defeat the object in- 
 tended by the Act. On the strength of the offer of these rewards, 
 schools embarked in very considerable outlay to reorganize 
 their system, which, although good in itself, was now called upon 
 to meet the requirements of a new and constantly changing pro- 
 gramme of competitive examinations. Hitherto these expenses 
 have all but absorbed the results fees annually distributed. 
 The new scale proposed will inevitably either involve unendowed 
 schools in a considerable loss, or force them to abandon the scheme 
 which was otherwise calculated to do so much good. Moreover, 
 the students will be seriously discouraged by the great diminu- 
 tion both in value and number of exhibitions and prizes held out 
 to them. On the faith of these re ards both schools and students 
 were aroused to considerable exertions, and conceived great hopes, 
 in which they are now threatened with the gravest disappoint- 
 ment, We, therefore, respectfully pray your Excellency to take 
 such steps with her Majesty's Government as will save the Board 
 of Commissioners of Intermediate Education from the necessity 
 of the retrenchments, and will continue to fulfil the pledges made 
 by Parliament to this country, and your memorialists will ever 
 pray, &c." 
 
 Eev. Dr. Gerald Molloy, Vice-Eector of the Catholic Univer- 
 sity, who introduced the deputation, said he had been asked by 
 the members of the deputation to make a short statement regard- 
 ing their memorial. In the first place he would ask the attention 
 of the (Jhief Secretary to the eminently representative character 
 of the deputation. They represented, he might say, practically, 
 all the intermediate schools and colleges in Ireland. There were 
 two standing committees— one elected by the Eoman Catholic 
 head masters, to represent their interests in connection with the 
 working of the Intermediate Education Act, and the other elected 
 by the Protestants of various denominations. The members of 
 these two committeeB were now present ; and also a large number
 
 18 
 
 of head mastei's, not members of the committees, had come from 
 distant parts of fche country to show by their presence the great 
 importance they attached to the subject of the petition. But 
 they represented not only all the intermediate schools of Ireland ; 
 they represented, too, all religious denominations in Ireland ; — 
 Roman Catholics, Protestant Episcopalians, Presbyterians and 
 Methodists. He thought he was justified in saying that this was 
 the first occasion on which any deputation so entirely representa- 
 tive of the whole country had ever come forward to support a 
 memorial on the subject of education in Ireland. The object 
 which the deputation had in view was very simple. They had 
 come to ask the Government to provide funds for the purpose 
 of carrying out the provisions of the Intermediate Education Act 
 of 1878. The object of that Act was to promote Intermediate 
 Education in Ireland by offering prizes and exhibitions to suc- 
 cessful students, and by offering results fees to the colleges that 
 had trained successful students. In the schedule to the Act the 
 amount of results fees to be granted, and of prizes and exhibitions 
 to be awarded, was fully and minutely set forth. It was now 
 found that the money provided by Parliament for that purpose 
 was insuiBcient, and the Commissioners of Intermediate Educa- 
 tion had found themselves reluctantly compelled to reduce very 
 largely the scale, not only of results fees, but also of prizes and 
 exhibitions. The Deputation wished then to press upon the 
 Government that they were simply asking Parliament through 
 them to provide means for carrying out its own Act ; and in doing so 
 they wished to call attention to the fact that this Act has met with 
 singular favour from the time of its first appearance down to the 
 present moment. It was introduced into Parliament by the late 
 Government ; it received the concurrence of the present Govern- 
 ment. It was accepted in both Houses with singular unanimity 
 of opinion, and it was hailed in this country, he might say, almost 
 with acclamation. Lastly, in its practical working, it had proved 
 eminently successful in promoting the end for which it was in- 
 tended — that is to say, in advancing and developing intermediate 
 education in Ireland. He thought it would be a great pity if an 
 Act surrounded by so many propitious circumstances, and calcu- 
 lated to promote so largely the interests of the country, should 
 now be allowed to fail, even in part, for want of a few thousand 
 pounds a year. The claim of the Deputation was strengthened by 
 the fact that most of their schools, on the faith of the Act, had 
 undertaken very considerable expense, with the view of improv- 
 ing their system of education. They had provided large staffs 
 of professors, and increased very largely their stores of books : 
 and they were compelled in a manner lo do so by the natural 
 operation of the Act, because every school felt that it could not 
 survive in the keen competition produced by the Act unless it 
 raised the standard of its teaching to the highest possible level. 
 All this, of course, involved great gain to the country, and he 
 submitted it would now be a great hardship if those schools 
 should be deprived of the pecuniary assistance on which they
 
 19 
 
 relied in undertaking that increased expenditure. He wished 
 also to call attention to a circumstance connected with the 
 history of the passing of the Act through Parliament. When it 
 was originally proposed by thelate Government it did not include 
 girls, it was intended to apply only to boys ; and this was stated 
 expressly by Lord Cairns in reply to Lord Spencer, in his place in 
 the House of Lords, and repeated again to Lord Granville on the 
 4th July, 1878 — that " the intention of iter Majesty's Government 
 in framing the Bill," was that it should be confined to boys. And 
 further, he stated that in the financial arrangements they 
 made provision only for the education of boys. Therefore 
 the million of money provided at that time was, according 
 to the estimate of the late Government, sufficient to promote the 
 scheme if applied only to boys, but not sufficient to meet the 
 necessary additional expense involved in applying it to girls. 
 Lord Cairns, in addition, stated on this occasion, that if it should 
 seem well to Parliament, at any time, to extend the advantages 
 of the Act to girls, " the financial arrangements would require 
 enlargement." Now, when the Act was passing through the 
 House of Commons a clause was added, the result of which had 
 been that all the advantages of the Act were thrown open to 
 girls as well as boys ; and owing to this change, the fund origi- 
 nally provided by Parliament was now found to be insufficient 
 for the purposes of the Act. The deputation, therefore, thought 
 the time had come when they might claim that thos« enlarged 
 financial arrangements should be made, which they considered 
 were practically promised by Lord Cairns, on the part of the late 
 Government. They thought it also important to call attention 
 to the fact, that whatever addition might be made to the 
 income of the Board of Intermediate Education would be a net 
 gain to the interests of education. At present the necessary 
 expenses of, working the Act absorbed an amount of money very 
 little short of one-half of the total income of the Board ; and, 
 therefore, if the income of the Board were increased by one- 
 half of its present amount, the sum of money available for pro- 
 moting the objects of the Act would be practically doubled. 
 Lastly, they thought it deserving of notice that up to the present 
 moment the Intermediate Education Act for Ireland had cost 
 nothing whatever to the Imperial Exchequer. The money 
 hitherto provided for the working of the Act had been taken 
 from a purely and exclusively Irish fund. They felt it was not 
 any part of their function or duty to point out the source from 
 which the additional funds now necessary might be derived ; bub 
 they would say this much at least, that it seemed to them not 
 unreasonable that if it should be found that no Irish fund was 
 available, the money should be drawn from the common re- 
 venues of the Empire, to which they in Ireland contributed their 
 full proportion. But this was a point which they left to the 
 judgment of the Government. What they wished particularly 
 to insist upon was this — that they asked simply for the means 
 of carrying out the Act of 1878 ; and they asked it on the ground 
 that the Act had won the good-will of all parties and of all re-
 
 20 
 
 ligious denominations, that it had been eminently successful in 
 its working, and had promoted very largely the interests of 
 intermediate education in Ireland, and therefore, they thought, 
 had promoted the general well-being, to a certain extent, of 
 the Empire at large. They further felt that this unprecedented 
 success was in great danger of being turned into a failure, for 
 want of the necessary funds, which they now asked the Govern- 
 ment to provide. 
 
 Rev. Father Delany, Tullabeg, said he had been asked to state 
 some facts in support of the memorial. The first statement made 
 was that the new rules issued by the Intermediate Boai'd were a 
 great departure from the scheme drawn by the late Grovernment 
 and sanctioned by Parliament. As a schoolmaster familiar with 
 the working of the scheme, and speaking in the presence of the 
 schoolmasters of Ireland, he might say, that the opinion was 
 universal that the working of the Intermediate Education Act 
 had done very much indeed to improve education, and, that 
 despite the shortcomings incidental to all new works, it might be 
 regarded as a very great success. He was justified in saying that 
 the action of the Act had improved the education of all the 
 schools he knew anything of. This improvement in education 
 was based upon the working of the Act in its triple character — 
 as it regarded very clever boys, as it regarded average boys, and 
 as it regarded the working of masters in their schools. The ex- 
 hibitions provided by the Act — of £20 for three years in the 
 junior grade, of £30 for two years in the middle grade, and of 
 £50 prizes in the senior grade — were not only a large inducement 
 held out to clever boys to distinguish themselves, but also they 
 gave what he thought schoolmasters in Ireland, a poor country, 
 would much value, they gave the help often wanted by the very 
 clever boy in the lower middle class, or, perhaps, lower still, to 
 whom nature had given an intellect, but to whom the circum- 
 stances of life afforded no opening, to elevate himself out of the 
 station in which he was born. If there was any point on which 
 school masters felt strongly in Ireland, and especially Catholic 
 school masters, it was this, that education had not been, and could 
 not be a profession in Ireland. There were no means for the 
 education of the poor, of those who were struggling, of those who 
 had only moderate means. There were no means held out to them 
 of obtaining such education as would enable them later on to take 
 their place in the work of life as educationists. Therefore it 
 came to pass that among Catholics especially there was a want 
 felt of trained educationists. The desired facilities were partially 
 given under the Intermediate Education Act, but now, the exhi- 
 bitions having these advantageous results had been cut down 
 practically 25 per cent., in some instances more than that. ISTot 
 only had the value of the exhibitions been reduced but also their 
 number. Instead of one exhibition for every ten students who 
 passed in three subjects named in the schedule of the Act, as sanc- 
 tioned by Parliament, at present only one exhibition is offered for 
 every 15, a reduction of 33^ per cent, in the number of exhibitions.
 
 21 
 
 Also, inasmuch as the standard for pass had been raised from 
 20 to 25 per cent, and a new condition inserted that, instead of 
 passing in one of certain specified subjects they must now pass in 
 two of those specified subjects, the masters were correct in calcu- 
 lating that the effect of the reduction in quantity, the reduction 
 in number, and the new condition, would be to reduce the 
 exhibitions between 40 and 45 per cent. The effect as regarded 
 prizes would be practically to reduce them one-half. There was 
 another point which affected the schools, he ventured to say, even 
 more, and that was the cutting down of the results fees. There 
 were no schools in Ireland with large endowments, nor did there 
 exist in this country, as there does in England, a large number of 
 those wealthy people of the middle classes who could render such 
 schools self-supporting. The question of endowments was, of 
 course, open to discussion, but Parliament had, after full debate, 
 sanctioned these indirect endowments — not the unearned endow- 
 ment that would lead perhaps to stagnation, but one that would 
 act as a stimulus — an endowment which could only be won in a 
 fair field with no favour. Results fees were granted in order to 
 help schools to do better work, and in the effort to provide a suffi- 
 ciently high standard of education considerable expense was gone 
 to by the different principals. In many instances the results fees 
 had been absorbed by the extra expense entailed. But the result 
 was, that the educational feeling in Ireland was raised and the 
 work better done. The fees further encouraged the sc#ioolmaster 
 to give his attention not merely to the clever and brilliant boy, 
 but to the average and the dull boy, the master having a direct 
 interest, not omy to get an exhibition for his school, but to have 
 his 50, 60, or 70 boys passed through ; therefore he worked on all 
 boys alike, and exercised hia influence to stimulate their indus- 
 try, the boys themselves feeling the desire for success. That was 
 one of the most marked advantages of the Intermediate Act. 
 Never before, so far as he knew, in the stadj of systems of edu- 
 cation, was there a system which reached so low down in the 
 classes, and stirred the energies of boys who previously felt disin- 
 clined to work. The reductions in the exhibitions and prizes, and 
 still more that in the results fees, would at once strike very hard, 
 indeed, upon schools that had spent money in developing the 
 Act. It seemed to him that the departure originated by 
 the new rules would lead to failure. It must lead to many 
 schools abandoning the intermediate system altogether ; and just 
 at a time when a university scheme was launched, for which the 
 Intermediate Act was a preparation, it seeaied ill-fated that 
 that should be the exact time for the blow, which would go far, 
 indeed, to diminish the number who could be prepared for 
 any university education, and diminish largely the advantages 
 which all the secondary education of the country had derived 
 from the Act. 
 
 Mr, T. G-. Houston (Coleraine), wished to say a few words on 
 behalf of the Presbyterians and other Noncomformists in the 
 North of Ireland. The newly issued programme of the Board
 
 22 
 
 had been receiyed with feelings of disappointment. The Act 
 had been received first of all as a boon, and in consequence of it 
 new schools were started, local committees were formed, and 
 efforts were made to secure competent teachers, and these schools 
 were very much wanted in the country. They were started in 
 consequence of hopes held out to them by the Act, and the 
 assistance given by it was not more than sufficient to enable them 
 to be efficiently worked. The effect of the proposed changes 
 would, he believed, be that they would cease to exist, or would 
 fall into inferior hands, and so lose the confidence of the public. 
 If that were the case, the great majority of the lower middle-class 
 of society throughout the North of Ireland would again be practi- 
 cally debarred from higher education. The Act also encouraged 
 parents of limited means who had promising children to send 
 them to the better class of schools, in the hope of obtaining 
 exhibitions which would assist them in defraying the cost of their 
 education. It would be hard to exaggerate the effects of exhibi- 
 tions on the lads themselves ; but in future, if the exhibitions 
 were to be lowered in value by 25 psr cent., and the difficulty of 
 obtaining them were increased by 40 per cent., the result would 
 be very disappointing. The proposed changes would also have 
 an injurious effect upon the older and wealthier schools. The 
 Act in the first place had reduced the number attending them, 
 by encouraging the establishment of private schools, and at the 
 same time the work of the teachers, was almost doubled, as the 
 schools had of course been reorganized, with a view to the re- 
 quirements of the Intermediate Programme. In the school with 
 which he was connected the salaries offered to assistants were 
 more than 26 per cent, in advance of what they were receiving 
 before the Act, and other schools had doubtless gone further 
 in the same direction. The governing body of his school had also 
 made a considerable reduction in the scale of school fees, in order 
 that pupils might be enabled to take advantage of the Act. These 
 changes had all been made in reliance upon the pledges of Her 
 Majesty's Government at the passing of the Act, but if the proposed 
 changes were made, there would, of course, be nothing for them 
 to do but to narrow once more the sphere of their operations. 
 Upon all the interests concerned the effects of these changes 
 would be most disastrous ; but if the Act were allowed to develop 
 in the manner in which it was intended, the greatest and best 
 interests of the country would be materially advanced, the intel- 
 lectual condition of the people would be revolutionized, and 
 Government would have in an educated, cultivated middle class 
 the best possible guarantee of social order, peace, and prosperity. 
 Mr. lioGAN (Skibbereen), the representative of a small body in 
 Ireland — lay Catholics who had Intermediate Schools of their 
 o-cvn — wished to add a few words to what had been already said. 
 The last speaker had given his experience of the North. He (Mr. 
 Hogan) could speak of the South. In educational facilities they 
 were worse off in the South than in the North. The general 
 level of education had bqen always lower, and the only means of
 
 23 
 
 raising it were, he contended, to be found in the establishment of 
 small Intermediate Schools which would act between the National 
 Schools and the Universities. It was found the parents in the 
 South did not all send their sons, unless they were intended for 
 professions, to the higher schools, being content with the 
 instruction given them by the National Board, and reluctant to 
 pay more than a merely nominal rate for their education. Since 
 the passing of the Act many schools had been founded on the 
 faith of its continuance, and many others had done, and might 
 still be expected to do, a good work ; but if the proposed changes 
 were carried out, most of them must be closed, and the cause of 
 higher education in Ireland injured. It was not his (Mr. 
 Hogan's) place to touch upon politics, but it should be pointed 
 out that in dealing with this subject in a broad and liberal spirit 
 he (Mr. Forster) would have the support and sympathy of the 
 cultured opinion of every class and creed throughout Ireland. 
 
 The Chief Secretary — I have no doubt about that. 
 
 Mr. W. WiLKiNS, Head Master of the High School of Erasmus 
 Smith, Dublin, said that the masters in his school found that the 
 boys worked infinitely better since the passing of the Act, and 
 there was no doubt that the parents were also led to take greater 
 interest in the studies and progress of their children. The num- 
 bers attending the school also had more than doubled, owing 
 largely, he believed, to boys who up to the passing of the Act had 
 been sent to the National schools being sent now to the higher 
 schools of various kinds. As a consequence of this increase, the 
 duties of his masters had been also greatly increased, and the only 
 reward they had was share of the results fees, and — what was of 
 no inconsiderable value to them — the consciousness that they were 
 engaged in promoting the educational welfare of the country by 
 working in connection with the Act. 
 
 Dr. Parker (Head Master of the Methodist College, Belfast), 
 said he had about one hundred girls in his charge, and that he 
 was in a position to speak of the effect of the Act upon girls. 
 
 The Chief Secretary— Is that a day school. 
 
 Dr. Parker — It is. 
 
 The Chief Secretary — What is the fee ? 
 
 Dr. Parker said it was from 8 to 12 guineas, according to age. 
 The effect of the Act on the education of the girls, not only in his 
 own college, but all over Ireland, had been marvellous. Girls 
 had been put to the same standard as boys, and the result had 
 been that there was an enormous advance in solid learning — the 
 old flimsy education of girls was becoming a thing of the past. 
 What he feared was this, that the Commissioners of Intermediate 
 Education might be driven to compel the girls to compete on a 
 footing of equality with boys. Hitherto the examinations had 
 been the same, girls competing only against girls, and it was 
 desirable that this should remain so on many grounds — on the 
 ground of physique, on domestic grounds, and on the ground that 
 girls would be thoroughly discouraged if they had to compete 
 with boys. If they had had to do so last year, scarcely 10 girls,
 
 24 
 
 he supposed, would have got exhibitions. The continuance of 
 the present system of dealing with girls was, he considered, abso- 
 lutely necessary. The difficulties with which the Board were now 
 surrounded had arisen from the unexpected and marvellous 
 success of the Intermediate system. In the year 1879, 380 girls 
 passed; in 1880, about 1,180 passed ; and last year, about 1,400 
 girls passed ; and there was a probability that the number would 
 go on increasing. In conclusion, he said that it was to their 
 mind of the utmost importance that the fund should be so 
 increased as to secure the continiiance of the advantages enjoyed 
 at present under the Intermediate Education Act. 
 
 The Chief Secretary, replying to the deputation, said there 
 was no doubt about the importance of this question. It had been 
 well treated by gentlemen of practical experience, but his first 
 remark must be that the gentleman on whom they ought to have 
 waited was the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Dr. Molloy, in his 
 introductory statement, had said that it was a simple question. 
 Well, he (the Chief Secretary) thought it was — evidently a simple 
 question of money. Now, why did they want money ? He was 
 told that there were three reasons for it. One was that, although 
 the Bill was brought in in the Lords, without any mention of girls, 
 girls were added in the Commons, but that the original sum of 
 one million was not increased, and a reference had been made to 
 speeches of Lord Cairns, who then represented the Government, 
 on the matter. But then he (Mr. Forster) must remind them — 
 because it was his business to tell them exactly how the facts 
 stood — that the House of Commons was the guardian of the public 
 purse and money, and that it passed in the House of Commons 
 for boys and girls as conveniently as might be, with a certain 
 sum fixed, and therefore the House of Commons could not be 
 considered in any way pledged by anything said by Lord Cairns — 
 to anything said on the matter in the House, of Lords. The next 
 ground on which they wanted money was the expense of adminis- 
 tration. He hoped he would not be understood as casting the 
 slightest blame on the administration, but he made this remark — 
 that the expense of administration were evidently much larger than 
 was expected. He had been rather carefully refreshing his mind 
 out of the debates on the subject, and he found that the largest 
 sum which the expense of administration was put at by any gentle- 
 man in the House of Commons was £10,000, and he found now it 
 was £14,000. He thought it was for them to consider, and in saying 
 so he was throwing no blame upon any gentleman — it was not a 
 matter of individuals at all — but the question, he thought, really 
 for the persons interested in the matter was to consider whether 
 there was any system by which less money could be spent in the 
 administration of the Act. Perhaps he might venture to suggest 
 to them — although he was aware that their circumstances, that 
 the circumstances of Irish secondary schools, were not precisely 
 the same — in fact, there was a great difference between them and 
 the schools associated with the Science and Art Department in 
 England — he thought that the managers of this fund might with
 
 25 
 
 advantage see what was done by the Science and Art Depart- 
 ment, the immense number of examinations conducted by them 
 at a very much less proportionate expense than that at which 
 the examinations were conducted here. But the chief reason 
 why they wanted more money was the success of the Act — that 
 it had been taken advantage of very much more than was 
 expected. But here he must state that there must be some limit 
 to the assistance that was given. One gentleman said that the 
 number of students availing themselves of the benefit of the 
 Act were, he thought, double. He (the Chief Secretary) sup- 
 posed he meant the number of those competing for exhibitions. 
 
 Mr. WiLKiNS — The number of people receiving a higher 
 education. 
 
 The Chief Secretary said he believed and trusted that there 
 were a great many more boys and girls in Ireland who would be 
 found, as the stimulus for education increased, and as the advan- 
 tages of education were better appreciated by their parents, a 
 great many more would probably be found who would require 
 the same benefits ; and certainly there was no pledge given by 
 Parliament that money should be granted for secondary educa- 
 tion in Ireland up to any limit whatever, or a limit only to be 
 defined by the number of young men and young women who 
 should take advantage of it. But he thought they must 
 see that, putting aside the question of whether ^these new 
 rules were necessary or advisable or not, there must be a time at 
 which, in some way or other, unless Parliament were to enter 
 upon the very serious business of providing for secondary as well 
 as primary education in Ireland, there must come a time when 
 the success of the scheme would cause some difference in the 
 rules. It might be that the best way of economising money 
 would be, not to diminish the value of prizes, but to make them 
 more difficult to obtain. It might be that, the great object 
 being to stimulate to higher education, as you find that the level is 
 reached — he supposed that at present the level of education had 
 improved. 
 
 Several gentlemen said it had. 
 
 The Chief Secretary — Very good. He thought that it was a 
 proof that they might stimulate it by a rather higher examination 
 than before. He merely made these remarks, because he thought 
 it would be a mistake — whatever the result of the present peti- 
 tion, with reference to which he could give them answer, as he 
 had not the key of the Treasury — that whatever might be the 
 result of it, he would be scrry to mislead them by any promise 
 which it would be utterly out of his power to perform. There 
 were only two ways in which secondary education in Ireland 
 could be really developed ; one was by the secondary schools 
 aiming at being self-supporting, and the parents sufficiently ap- 
 preciating the benefits of education to make the necessary sacri- 
 fices for the good teaching. The other was that in some way or 
 other the State should find the money for it. Now, one gentle- 
 man said that the money that was now asked would not be equal
 
 26 
 
 to one-half of the endowments in England, but the endowments 
 in England were not given out of the pockets of the taxpayers. 
 The endowments in England were what had been given by indivi- 
 duals in past times, and when some gentleman stated that no grant 
 was made out of the Imperial Exchequer for secondary education 
 in Ireland, neither was it in England or Scotland, and consequently 
 he would be misleading them if he did not say that if any demand 
 were made upon the Imperial Exchequer the gentlemen who 
 were responsible for preserving the interests of the general tax- 
 payers would have to consider that it would be a most serious 
 matter, because it would mean the State undertaking to provide 
 secondary education, not merely in one of the kingdoms, but in 
 all three. Of course it could not be forgotten that the money 
 was provided out of an Irish fund, and his impression was that 
 the remarks made by Lord Cairns probably meant an increase out 
 of that fund. Looking at the debates both in the Lords and Com- 
 mons, he could not find even a hint of any money being given 
 out of the Imperial Exchequer. But as Lord Beaconsfield used to 
 say, " a good deal has happened since then," and the Irish Church 
 fund is found out not to be quite the inexhaustible purse that it was 
 thought to be, and it was impossible to make a further dip into that 
 fund. The late Government, for purposes of great urgency, 
 incumbered it very heavily, in consequence of the distress of a 
 year or two ago, and, as they were aware, the pension fund to 
 the teachers was a considerable pull upon it, and the Land Act 
 was not passed without additional incumbrances. As he (the 
 Chief Secretary) had been saying, if they wished to go further 
 with this matter, they must really wait upon the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, because he must repeat what he had said at the 
 beginning, that it was a question of money. He hoped they 
 would not think that he was underrating the advantages of the 
 Act, as his own interest in education was very considerable, both 
 in Ireland and in G-reat Britain. He believed that the greatest 
 hope of secondary education in Ireland lay in the establishment 
 of self-supporting schools, and in the strong determination of 
 parents to get the benefit of them for their children. 
 
 I'he Deputation then withdrew.
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 {From the Times of January 26th.) 
 
 A very influential deputation, representing the Intermediate 
 Schools of all denominations in the country, waited upon the Chief 
 Secretary this afternoon, at Dublin Castle, to present a memorial 
 from the head-masters against the new rules issued by the Com- 
 missioners, as a great departure from the scheme originally drawn 
 by the late Government and sanctioned by Parliament. Some 
 members of the deputation had come up from remote parts of 
 the country to attend, the subject being one in which the most 
 anxious interest is felt. The truth is that the system is in danger 
 of breaking down under the weight of its own success. The 
 growth has been too rapid and luxuriant, and the beneficial 
 fruits too prolific for the system to bear if it is not sustained and 
 nourished at the roots by the fostering care of the hands that 
 planted it. When the Bill was originally introduced* the admis- 
 sion of girls to compete at the examinations was not contemplated, 
 and the fund set apart for distribution in prizes was intended 
 exclusively for the advantage of male students. Daring 
 the passage of the Bill, it was agreed that girls should be allowed 
 to participate in the benefits of the Act, but no provision was 
 made for increasing the number and value of the rewards by a 
 proportionate increase of the fands. The result has been, that 
 the Commissioners, being obliged to keep the expenditure within 
 their income, have made new rules by which the rewards have 
 been reduced ; and the change, it is feared, will have a discourag.- 
 ing effect upon the future prospects of a system which, until it 
 received this unexpected check, seemed destined to achieve great 
 success in developing the intellectual resources of the country 
 and giving a general impetus to education. The memorial stated, 
 that on the faith of the offer of rewards which were made at the 
 outset, considerable outlay was incurred in reorganizing the 
 school system, so as to meet the requirements of an ever-changing 
 programme of competitive examinations. Hitherto these expenses 
 have absorbed all the results fees, and the reduced scale will either 
 make unendowed schools a loss or force the managers to abandon 
 the scheme, which was otherwise calculated to do much good. 
 The students, also, will, it is apprehended, be greatly dishear- 
 tened. The memorialists therefore prayed that His Excellency 
 would take such steps as would save the Commissioners from the 
 necessity of retrenchment, and enable them to continue to fulfil 
 the pledges made bj^ Parliament to the country.
 
 28 
 
 {From the Fkeeman's Journal.) 
 " The Intermediate Education Bill, as at present framed, did not 
 contemplate the application of the scheme to female students. 
 Should Parliament at any time be disposed to extend the system 
 to them the financial arrangements would require enlargement." 
 Such were the words of Lord Cairns, then Conservative Lord 
 Chancellor, in reply to Earl Spencer on July 2nd, 1878 ; and if 
 words from the lips of high ofiicials are to be taken in their ordi- 
 nary sense, we hold that Lord Cairns gave an undertaking that 
 the money allotted for the working of the Intermediate system 
 would be increased if at any time the system were applied to 
 girls. The system has been so applied, but the money grant has 
 not been enlarged, and hence the present difficulty in carrying 
 out the intentions of Parliament, and the threatened collapse of 
 the whole scheme. Seldom were the wishes of Parliament more 
 expressly consulted as to the details of a measure — seldom was a 
 scheme approved of by Parliament for the carrying out of which 
 more complete provision was made. Appended to the Bill was 
 a " Schedule of Rules," in which the value and number of exhi- 
 bitions were clearly defined, as also the scale of payment of 
 results fees to managers of schools. These rules, so far as they 
 relate to the points at issue, were authoritatively explained by 
 Lord Cairns in the following words : — "The total number of pupils 
 who pass in these three subjects being ascertained by those ex- 
 aminations, we propose that there should be one prize for every 
 10 pupils who pass. We propose that the prizes should be of this 
 kind. That for the first year there should be an exhibition, or 
 exhibitions, not exceeding £20 a year, and tenable for three years ; 
 that for the second year there should be an exhibition, or exhibi- 
 tions, not exceeding £30 a year, and tenable for two years: and that 
 for the third year there should be a prize of £50, which, of course, 
 would be for that year alone." And again — " The scale upon 
 which we propose that these payments (of results fees) shall be 
 made is set out in a schedule to the Bill. We propose that the 
 payment for two subjects for the first year should not exceed £3 ; 
 for three subjects, £4 ; four subjects, £5 ; that in the second year 
 the payment should be an amount not exceeding £4 for two 
 subjects; £5 for three subjects; '£6 for four subjects; £7 for 
 five subjects ; and that in the third year the maximum payments 
 should be for two subjects £5 ; for three subjects £6 ; for four 
 subjects £7; for five subjects £8; and for six subjects £10." 
 These words were spoken on June 21st, 1878, and we quote them 
 to show that whpn the two Houses of Parliament passed ihe In- 
 termediate Education Act, when the Liberals joined with the 
 Conservatives in voting for that measure, the approval of the 
 country was given not to a general proposition regarding Inter- 
 mediate Education in Ireland, but to a well-defined and clearly 
 explained scheme. It was the scheme as proposed to be applied 
 in the original Schedule of Rules, and as expounded in detail by 
 Lord Cairns that iir. Forster and his fellow-Liberals voted for
 
 29 
 
 in 1878, and it is only this same schemo that they are 
 now asked to carry out. The proposal submitted to Par- 
 liament, we repeat, and the proposal assented to by Mr, 
 Forster and his colleagues, was not to set apart £1,000,000, 
 and to employ that sum to the best advantage in improving Irish 
 education. No ; the proposal made, and the proposal voted for, 
 was to adopt a certain scheme, complete m all its parts, and in- 
 tended to be applied on certain clearly defined lines, provision 
 being made to the extent of £1,000,000 for the expenses of working 
 it. That such is the true interpretation of the action of Parlia- 
 ment is evident from the words of Lord Cairns, quoted above, in 
 which he clearly looks upon the scheme as substantially a fixed 
 quantity, to be applied to a larger or a smaller number, while he 
 considers the amount of money provided changeable, to be en- 
 larged according to the numbers brought under the influence of 
 the scheme. But it may be said that the money originally pro- 
 vided was sufficient — that £1,000,000 is a large sum to hand over 
 to a Board to encourage and improve one branch of education in 
 Ireland ; that the present cry is the cry only of those directly 
 interested. Certainly, it is only the cry of those interested, but 
 it so happens that " those interested" include the whole people of 
 Ireland. The boys of any generation attending the Intermediate 
 Schools of a country are the future lawyers, solicitors, and doctors 
 — the future manufacturers, merchants, and traders-ythe future 
 landowners, farmers, and graziers of that country ; and anything 
 that goes to improve their education and to raise the standard of 
 their training, affects, not alone the class they belong to, but the 
 whole population. As to the sufficiency of the amount originally 
 voted, we shall content ourselves with the following quotations 
 from Hansard, and the words quoted, be it remembered, were 
 uttered before any interest was touched in the matter. On the 
 15th of July, during the second reading of the Bill in the House 
 of Commons, and before there was question of including girls, 
 Mr. Cogan said — " He should have been glad to see even a larger 
 sum than the interest of £1,000,000 applied to the purposes of 
 Intermediate Education. That appeared to him small and in- 
 adequate as a means of obtaining the great results expected." 
 Afterwards, when, contrary to the intention and wish of the 
 Government, it bocame a question of providing for girls, Sir 
 Joseph M'Kenna remarked, " It should be borne in mind that 
 the fund to be disposed of under the Bill was not very large, 
 and, indeed, was not sufficient to provide for the requirements 
 of the male youth of Ireland." Mr. Meldon reminded the House 
 that " There was only a sum of £1 ,000,000 available for educating 
 boys under the Bill, and the result of extending its provisions to 
 the education of girls would be to render it entirely useless and 
 inoperative, as it was, to a great extent already, seeing that the 
 amount to be disposed of was so small." And Mr. Errington 
 added — " They were all in favour of improving the education of 
 women, but in reality the Endowment Fund was not more than 
 sufficient for the young men of Ireland." Mr. O'Shaughnessy, in
 
 30 
 
 his admirable letter of Saturday, shows that he holds the same 
 views, and holds them strongly. It is then clear that in the 
 minds of thoughtful and disinterested men the money set apart 
 in the Bill from the commencement was small and inadequate 
 even for boys alone, and that a proportion of it would be utterly 
 insufficient to enable the scheme to be extended to girls. And, 
 doubtless, these men, and the many others who thought with 
 them, did not come to their conclusions without good reasons. 
 They remembered how the one school of Eton, as stated 
 by the Koyal Commissioners of 1864, enjoyed during the seven 
 years previous to 1860 an average income (from endowments 
 alone) of £20,569 ; how another, Winchester, had during the 
 same time an average income of £15,494. That is to say, two 
 English schools possess between them a larger income than the 
 Intermediate Commissioners have for all the schools of Ireland. 
 Indeed, it strikes us that if influential Irishmen whose voices 
 have, or ought to have, weight in determining questions of this 
 kind went to the trouble of examining, and if English statesmen 
 who come' over here to govern us would manage not to forget, 
 the liberal scale on which educational financial matters are 
 arranged on the other side of the Channel, Irish schools and 
 Irish parents would be the gainers. For instance, looking 
 to "The Educational Year-Book" for 1881, published by 
 Oassell & Co., we find that in Charterhouse School there 
 are not less than 60 Scholarships, 30 Senior, £85 a year each ; 
 30 Junior, £65. In Rugby there are five major and four minor 
 Scholarships, varying in value from £80 to £20. In Clifton 
 College there are at least nine Scholarships, varying from £90 to 
 £25. In Eastbourne College eight Scholarships, varying between 
 £40 and £20. In Malvern there are ten Scholarships, all, except 
 one, between £50 and £80, and the one exception is £30. These 
 are a few cases out of many, and we may add that these Scholar- 
 ships are all tenable at school. They do not include the splendid 
 Exhibitions awarded at these schools, but enjoyable at the 
 one or other of the Universities — e.g.^ Charterhouse gives 
 its pupils twenty-one Scholarships of £100 for seven years ; 
 four Exhibitions of £90 for four years ; one, £86, for five years ; 
 two, £60, for four years; one, £50, for eight years; four, 
 £40, for four years ; two, £30, for four years, JSTeither do the 
 above figures include the Foundation Scholars, who receive their 
 education free of charge- Of these there are 153 at St. Paul's 
 alone, and we are told in the " Educational Year-book" that the 
 exemption from school fees is equal to £20 a year. These facts 
 are plain, and speak for themselves. They need no commentary 
 from us. 
 
 (From the Daily Express.) 
 
 The head-masters of Intermediate Schools in Ireland, by 
 memorial and deputation to the Chief Secretary yesterday, have 
 brought under public notice a very unwelcome and discreditable 
 fact — namely, that the Intermediate Education Act is in danger
 
 31 
 
 of becoming a failure for want of funds. The Bill and the 
 Schedule of Eules dependent on it were passed by Parliament as 
 a well-defined scheme, which was received in this country with 
 acclamation, ar d has met with the largest measure of favour and 
 success. In 1879, when the first examinations were held, 4,000 
 candidates came forward, and last year this number had increased 
 to 7,000. The income of the Board has, it seems, proved insuffi- 
 cient, and the system, overweighted by its popularity, is in 
 danger of sinking in what may be regarded as the tide of its own 
 fortune. With a view of lightening it, the newly-published 
 Rules for 1882 propose to Parliament important modifications of 
 the scheme, involving a ruthless cutting-down of the rewards to 
 teachers and to pupils. Against such a departure from the in- 
 tentions of the Act, and such an obstacle to the progress of a 
 measure which has already done so much good, the head-masters 
 of Ireland have, in the most deliberate and unanimous way, 
 protested, and their protest, we hope, will be echoed in the House 
 of Commons by every Irish member. More money is required 
 to work the Act as it has been worked, and this might easily be 
 provided if the Liberal Government would exercise a little 
 liberality. The reply of the Chief Secretary to the head-masters 
 yesterday was a flimsy evasion of the whole question. A limit 
 must, no doubt, be reached when expansion must cause economy, 
 if expansion can go on indefinitely ; but this is no* the case. 
 The number of candidates at Intermediate Examinations in 
 Ireland has, of course a limit, and one which has now, very 
 probably, been reached. Again, as to good secondary schools 
 being self-supporting or endowed from private sources, this is 
 once for all impossible in so poor a country as Ireland. England 
 is covered with such foundations as King Edward YI.'s Grammar 
 School, endowed at one time or another by the Crown. But the 
 main argument of the head-masters was left untouched — namely, 
 that after the million of money had been set apart for boys' 
 education, girls were brought into the scheme, and that members 
 of both houses of Parliament spoke of this step as one which 
 would necessitate sooner or later an increase of funds. Lord 
 Cairns used the words — "Should Parliament at any time be 
 disposed to extend the system to female students, the financial 
 arrangements would require enlargement" — words that came 
 with weight at the time from the author of the Bill, and the 
 second member of the then existing Government. On the faith 
 of an unimpaired continuance of the scheme schools have 
 embarked in various outlays, which the rewards will do little 
 more than cover. To girls' schools, to Roman Catholic schools, 
 and to unendowed institutions generally, the new rules portend 
 simply a relapse into the stagnation that prevailed before the 
 Act was framed by a Conservative Government as a vast engine 
 of educational good. Is it too much, then, to expect of the 
 present Government that they will not, by an ]ll-timed parsimony, 
 minimize the good results of their predecessor's work ?
 
 32 
 
 {From the Dublin Evening Mail.> 
 
 When Mr. Forster protests against bestowing Imperial money 
 on Irish Intermediate Education he seems to forget that it is 
 not Imperial money that is asked for. The Irish schoolmasters 
 have asked him for Irish money, for money which Mr. Grladstone 
 solemnly promised should be devoted to Irish purposes exclu- 
 sively ; and which on the cy-pres principle, cannot be more 
 properly allocated than to the development and improvement of 
 Irish schools. The Endowments of the Established Church were 
 expended in maintaining in every parish of Ireland a centre of 
 education, of good sense, of loyalty to the British connection — 
 in short, of civilisation. In diverting it from this purpose, 
 Mr. Grladstone was bound by the nature of the case as well as by 
 his express promise to see that the money was applied to some 
 such purposes as those which the Established Church was in- 
 tended, to perform. What does Mr. Forster want to do with this 
 money that he refuses to the Irish schools ? Is it to multiply 
 peasant properties, an ignis fatuus of which we are now learning 
 the true character from the piteous confessions of the victims 
 themselves ? or is Mr. Forster serious in thinking that the million 
 can be made to accomplish the increasing work it has to grapple 
 with by the paltry expedient of cutting down the expenses of the 
 office clerks and the examining staflc ? It is an odd way of making 
 the capital of a concern go far, to reduce the machinery in pro- 
 portion as the work it has to do increases. Perhaps the Govern- 
 ment want to keep the residue of the Church Surplus in hands as 
 a bait to be dangled before the eyes of Irish politicians and a 
 means of buying a much-needed half dozen of Parliamentary 
 votes. If so, we must say that such a purpose is distinctly 
 demoralising, and that the sooner the residue of the surplus 
 vanishes into thin air the better for the peace of Ireland and the 
 honesty of Irish public life. The parsimony of the Government, 
 if persevered in, will be the death-blow of one of the most hopeful 
 departments of the Intermediate Education scheme ; we mean 
 that which is concerned with the education of girls. The weaker 
 sex is sure to go to the wall in a fierce struggle for the endow- 
 ments, and it is surely worth while considering what effects an 
 improved education for girls would produce on the next genera- 
 tion. Mr. Forster's relegation of the schoolmasters' deputation 'to 
 the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a shabby evasion of responsi- 
 bility. It is he that is directly responsible for the successful 
 administration of the Intermediate Education Act. Were 
 Mr. Gladstone applied to, he would without doubt send back the 
 applicants to the Irish Secretary. If there are any difficulties in 
 the way of providing an increased grant for the working of the 
 Act, let Mr. Forster settle them with his chief inDowning-street, 
 and not hope to evade a righteous demand by makitig a f ootbal 1 
 of one of the most vital of Irish interests.
 
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